After a several second pause- Well Vampire Hunter, does this look like home?

Back off grampa, who are you?

What do you mean; we just crossed over seconds ago?

Crossed the street?!? What are you talking about? - replies Vampire Hunter as he spots Wolfblade advancing behind the stranger. With a quick nod the werewolf springs forward the last 12 feet and grabs Time-Rider tightly.

Hold on! - Time-Rider yells- I’m a friend.

We’ll see. Hold tight Wolfblade!

Vampire Hunter advances to the duo. Thanks for not struggling, but that doesn’t make you not a threat. You appeared out of nowhere, are you a teleporter?

No. My powers are time-based. I, actually “we”, just came through a dimensional time portal.

Wrong answer. I’ve been here the whole time. Wolfblade and I are on a nightly patrol. Do you have another story you’d like to offer up?

Probaly none you’d believe. I’m beginning to get confused too.

A sudden flash or red light causes Wolfblade to grunt and loosen his grip. A blur of motion from behind and suddenly he’s on his knees. Time-Rider somersaults forward and rises to a defensive stance near a newspaper vending machine. Vampire Hunter crouches low and surveys the area. He quickly spots another unknown figure to his right.

Time-Rider, over here- the figure says.

Time-Rider turns and immediately sprints to the figure. The two defensively stand back-to-back. Time-Rider speaks- Thanks for the back-up Jack. I was hoping you wouldn’t need to come out of the shadows.

You and me both TR- replies Cyber Jack.

As Crow suspected, Vampire Hunter has no memory of his visit to our world.

Should we just leave now? It’s looking like this is going to get physical pretty quick and I’m not liking the look of that robot-dog over there now that I’ve lost the element of surprise.

No, if we leave now there will be too many questions, on both sides. I want answers.

By now Wolfblade has recovered and found his way to Vampire Hunters side. The four figures eye each other nervously. As one group advances the other retreats at the same pace. The back-and-forth dance continues for over a minute. Finally Time-Rider speaks- Vampire Hunter, I tell you we mean no harm. My friend was just defending me.

And he came though this portal too?

Yes. That’s his specialty. He travels to other times and realities. We could leave right now, and we will if you say the word. I’d rather talk this through though as I’m sure we both have questions.

Vampire Hunter looks at Wolfblade. The two then lower their fists and stand erect with arms at their sides. Time-Rider and Cyber Jack follow their lead. The figures move towards each other and begin conversing.

Twenty minutes later:

…somehow the return trip home through the barrier sweeps the mind clean of the other world. That’s why I hand no memory of you on my world and you none of me after we came here. Returning through the barrier swipes the mind clean of the individual.

OK, you’ve convinced me Time-Rider. So what happens next? Will you forget about all this when you leave?

Hopefully not as we’ve taken precautions. Jack and I also both have built-up resistances to time and dimensional travel. Won’t know 100% till we head home, but I’m hopeful.

So will this dimensional doorway remain open?

Not yet. Long-term, Professor Crow, a scientist in my world, hopes to create a secure portal that circumvents the amnesic effects of the rifts. It’ll be like a surgical cut in the dimension, instead of the current gash. Effects should be minimized, if not totally eliminated. In the near future we should be able to pass back and forth without the memory loss.

Makes sense. I hope he’s successful as it would be nice to know there are other heroes out there that can lend a hand in times of need.

Agreed. You should also know though that Jack and I have been emitting a time-bubble of sorts. It’s helped counter the effects of the current unstable portal travel method. Once we leave, odds are the memory of this encounter should fade in you within an hour or so. The next time we meet will be then be our first meeting as far as both of you will be concerned.

That’s too bad. Guess till we meet again then, eh?

Look forward to it. With that, I think we’ll be on our way.

The four exchange a handshake and then Cyber Jack pushes a button on his forearm. A portal appears and the visitors step in and the light disappears.

Could be a whole new chapter Wolfblade soon. Time will tell. Let’s hit the bricks.

Epilogue:

Time-Rider, you were pretty vague about Vampire Hunter’s trip to our world. Why?

My first clue was his suit. It was undamaged.

You’re right, I didn’t even notice till you just said that.

Second thing is the date. I noted the date on the newspaper is today. Remember his chronometer was almost a month behind ours when we originally found him.

You’re right again. What does it all mean?

I think the Vampire Hunter we met at SDL Hall Prime was not the same Vampire Hunter we just left. His world and current time were correct, but the implications are that something major happened on that world in the last 3 weeks.

Huh?!?

I tried to be very general in our conversation so not to raise concern, but things he said all but confirmed my suspicions. Something occurred in that world in the last 26 days; a re-boot if you will. When we went through the dimensional portal, we also went into Vampire Hunter’s future, which technically was our present based on when we left. My guess is that the Vampire Hunter we traveled with essentially disappeared upon arrival, leaving only the current time line Vampire Hunter. I speculate the “old” Vampire Hunter was absorbed into the current Vampire Hunter since they both couldn’t exist at the same moment in time. Sort of righting a wrong I guess. We’ve both seen similar instances in our travels. This could be why he immediately didn’t recognize me even though he should have been protected from portal amnesia by of my time-bubble. Saw no need to share this information with them even though I knew the revelations would disappear after the effects of the time-bubble wore off. It could have raised suspicions prior to our departure and put us in danger again. Not a risk needed to be taken.

Makes sense TR. How about this? We had foresight this time to implement a time-bubble to protect our memory while passing through the portal. If previous travel between the universes caused you to have specific amnesia of time spent in his universe, how come Vampire Hunter retained his memory of you when we found him here? Shouldn’t he have been amnesic in our world?

So that bionic brain of yours has been paying attention, I’m impressed. My best guess is that he didn’t pass through the same portal to get to our world that I’d previously used to visit him.

So how did he get here?

Can’t answer that one. From the looks of his damaged suit, could have been the result of a battle. Some villain may have tried to banish him here. All we can do is speculate at this point.

Ouch, my head is hurting now. I’ve done countless alternate realty missions, but this one takes the cake.

fin~

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 03:48 Last Edited By: new midnight avenger

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interesting amnesia theory, good story

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:12

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FYI that Tyler has a follow-up planned.

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 14:56

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Quote: Ouch, my head is hurting now.

Keeping up with alternate realities and time travel is fun, but it can hurt a reader's head keeping up.